Need Some Posting Advice Please - The Usual Suspects Are Falling Short

[RobertTheTexan]

I am trying to find the right, and most effective place for a friend and fellow M4Cer who is trying to ask for some help in locating a training range for a friend. Prior service (11Bangbang) and located here in Texas in the Beaumont/Houston area. I looked at the Regional and I believe he's even tried to find help there, but nothing moving. (My allusion to the Usual Suspects) I suspected that is because so many of us don't visit the Regionals. I just went there for the first time last week. We don't have a GD on our Training threads.

So where is the best place for me to make this information inquiry post and help a fellow brother and M4Cer out? He basically wants to find a good affordable training range in the Beaumont/Houston area where he's not restricted to just bench firing, but can actually do some training, movement, mag changes etc.

Also, I apologize if this is also not the right place for my question. Standing by for tactical relocation and a thump to the cranial region.

I read AC's The Good,. The Bad and The Ugly M4C Style Guide, and Serious Student's post on GD discussions. Believe me, I'm hesitant to post here, but in the end, I'm just trying to help out a new friend, and not be a jerkwad.

Thanks for the advice or correction or both.

RTT

[grnamin]

In my case, the Usual Suspects wouldn't be the ranges, but the instructors who hold classes in the area, who can point to which ranges can fit one's needs. Larry Vickers, has a 2 Day Handgun Operator class May 19-20, 2017 Houston TX. The range is actually in Rosenberg:
Area 59 Range
Randon School Rd
Rosenberg, Texas

Maybe they allow training, movement, mag changes, etc.

[Whiskey_Bravo]

I don't personally know anything about them but I have heard mention of 360 tactical training. A quick google of them makes it look like they have a nice indoor and outdoor range, but I am not sure if it's just formal training classes or if you can actually shoot there on your own.

[FlyingHunter]

I read AC's The Good,. The Bad and The Ugly M4C Style Guide, and Serious Student's post on GD discussions.
RTT

How I wish everyone read that. Raises the IQ of the forum. Well done and good style my Texan friend.

[RobertTheTexan]

How I wish everyone read that. Raises the IQ of the forum. Well done and good style my Texan friend.

We are really blessed with AC'a posts. I hope we find someway to ensure they remain accessible down the road.
This is a true statement: Most if not all of us would do well to re-read AC'a posts like this one from time to time.

Thank you for that compliment. That made my day.

For this reading this thread below is AC's Post:
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: an M4C Style Guide

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...C-Style-Guide&

[SeriousStudent]

What did I say about GD discussions? Gotta link? It probably involved lots of swearing and gritting of teeth.

Defaultmp3 is a really good guy in that part of the world, who does a ton of training. His AAR's are a goldmine, too. I read them religiously.

[RobertTheTexan]

What did I say about GD discussions?

1. Keep the threads relevant to the purpose of M4C.
2. Don't be a douche bag to your fellow M4Cer's.
3. Respect the Seniors. (not related to AARP Seniors)
4. If you brang your "Glam-Gun" you WILL get your feelings hurt.
5. Disrespect the letter of the law or spirit of law of the forum and you will find your balls crushed.

//End Cmd

Defaultmp3 is a really good guy in that part of the world, who does a ton of training. His AAR's are a goldmine, too. I read them religiously.

Thank you Serious. I will start poring over those After Actions and also thank you for the lead on Default.




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[Ryno12]

What did I say about GD discussions? Gotta link? It probably involved lots of swearing and gritting of teeth.

Here's the link to your sticky in GD, regarding GD, that you forgot that you wrote.

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...cy-Enforcement

[Defaultmp3]

Defaultmp3 is a really good guy in that part of the world, who does a ton of training. His AAR's are a goldmine, too. I read them religiously.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Thank you Serious. I will start poring over those After Actions and also thank you for the lead on Default.

So, the deal is, I personally don't really know of any private ranges in the area with open sign-ups currently (e.g., Bayou Rifles, Pearland Shooting Center, etc.), which would have been your best bet for something where there's rifle bays or whatever so that you can just run around and do whatevs with either rifle or pistol. Most of them have pretty long waitlists, with no defined timeline of when you might be able to get in. Depending on what side of town he's on (Houston is huge, after all), it might be worth investing in a membership over at Cawthon, http://cccshootingcomplex.com/prices/. It's a really nice range (honestly, probably the best outdoor one I've been to), and not that far of a drive if you're near the NW side (which I'm guessing isn't the case, given that you mentioned Beaumont), and kinda puts you near College Station, too.

Beyond that, my preferred indoor range of choice is Shiloh Shooting (http://www.shilohshooting.com/), though obviously this will be pistol-centric. I'm friends with a lot of the guys behind the counter, and I help sweep and clean after they close, so they let me do stuff like drawing and stuff; pretty sure most of the regulars that show good handling skills are allowed to do that, too. Every second and third Sunday, they hold two-ish hour handgun classes going over whatever random material that my friend pulls out of his ass; I occasionally AI those, depending on my schedule, but it's a good opportunity to do stuff like reloads, draws, low-light, SotM, etc. if you don't have any other time. They also offer a first responder/military discount for range fees. They don't really like people to shoot rifles, but that's purely a function of noise and its impact on other customers, and they don't really care if it's a slow day and not many other customers around (or if you use a can).

I know both Athena Gun Club and Boyert Shooting Center allow you to do draws after you've been certified by their staff, and also cool with rifles all day. Both are a bit pricey, though, especially Athena, though to be fair, they are really, really nice indoor ranges.

I've not ever attended a class at Area 59, but I've been there multiple times for Steel Challenge. Relatively basic range, but they're doing a good job at sprucing it up, with benches and shade at most of the bays (the goal is to have them at every bay; I ain't been back in a couple of months, so they might have finished that project). The Steel Challenge/USPSA folks are real nice folks, too.

I know Phil out at The Impactzone hosts guys, I've been out there for a Shivworks ECQC and CWS Active Shooter/Low-Light course, and saw a Suarez class out there before, so a bit of a mixed bag. I believe there's also some competition shooting that happens out there.

My go-to local guy for training classes these days is Matt Shockey (of P&S fame) who owns Falcon Tactical (https://www.falcontactical.net/). He hosts plenty of big name guys out on a range at Eagle Lake (which is west of Houston), and I've been out there with Pannone, McNamara, etc. It's a nice range, and if you snag accommodations, you'll typically get to hang out with the instructor a lot, as they typically also stay on-site; the owner of the range, Nolan is also a phenomenal cook, and a super nice fellow. The range as of now is only open for classes hosted through Falcon Tactical (as Nolan's business is mainly trophy hunting, he has a bunch of exotic animals out on the property), as Matt's been super busy with his new baby, though there's been talk about opening the range back up to private range days and the like, as there's been some outside interest in helping run the range.

About the same distance from Beaumont to Eagle Lake is Nacogdoches, which is home to CSAT (http://www.combatshootingandtactics.com/), always a classic.

Hope that helps. Sorry it's mostly pistol-centric, but that's my primary focus on training, and since I found Shiloh, I've not had too much impetus to dig around for better ranges, as I'm basically allowed to do whatever after the range closes.

[SeriousStudent]

Here's the link to your sticky in GD, regarding GD, that you forgot that you wrote.

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...cy-Enforcement

Ah, now I remember. Chuck created a much-needed exposition on testicular compaction. All I did was give it a bump with a little more emphasis.

And I was just waiting for somebody to tell me "Read the stickies, ya noob!"